Month: March 2018

Gone are the good ole days when a Pope would pontificate on things such as heresy and infallibility. The current Pope, Francis, recently weighed in on the topic of tattoos and declared, “Don’t be afraid of tattoos. The problem is the exaggeration, not the tattoos.” As readers of this blog know, I’ve tackled this topic several times before (“Are Tattoos Christian” 12/11/17, “Demonic Tattoos” 12/14/15, “Tattoo You” 02/10/14, “Cremation Tattoos 11/11/13, “Tattoo Removal” 09/21/12 – to read click here.) My book “Curse Breaking” has an entire section on Tattoos, concluding, “The simple injection of ink under the skin has no spiritual power within itself. It is the particular subject, theme, art, or representation that cause the damage. Symbols have the power to bridge the gap between the physical and the metaphysical.” Which is the say that, while I get what the Pope is saying, I disagree with the measure of his endorsement. Leviticus 19:28 is difficult to get around: “You shall not tattoo any marks on you.” Sorry, Pope Francis, that’s a prohibition, not a variable.

In the same speech, the Pope had some excellent observations about the dangers of social media: “In the social media, we see faces of young people appearing in any number of pictures recounting more or less real events, but we don’t know how much of all this is really ‘history,’ an experience that can be communicated and endowed with purpose and meaning.” I couldn’t agree more, but back to the tattoo topic. Exaggeration is an issue. You’ve surely seen examples of people tattooed quite literally head to foot, and even face. The Pope called this a “sense of belonging.” But belonging to what? A transient fad that will someday bar the bearer from a more desirable social group, because “they” don’t want to be around someone with hideous early 21st century “tribal” markings?

Medical tattoos are one thing, recreational markings another. Surely, we Christians could agree that dragons, Om symbols, Buddhist mandalas, voluptuous figures, obscene gestures, profane words, astrology signs, death skulls, pagan gods, Celtic geometrics, yin-yang symbols, mythical creatures, chakra locations, etc. are off limits. But where is the line to be drawn from there? You may have a dumb tattoo from the time you were drunk or high on weed, but what you inked in your right mind has more spiritual consequences than you realize.

A couple of month I spotted a young woman in a seminar who was spiritually agitated. When I singled her out and had her stand, I noticed a tattooed hexagram on her leg. (She was wearing shorts.) All I had to do was strike her leg with my Bible and demons instantly manifested. An extreme example? Perhaps, but who wants to take the risk that any tattoo of any kind could be a portal for evil spirits. Not me! You?

An encouraging word: YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY ANGELS

“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him,” says Psalm 34:7. When you feel alone; when you have a sense of being beleaguered; when it appears as if your enemies encompass you. That’s when you need to know that angels are all around. You may feel surrounded by evil, but God is also there. You just need to be aware of His presence, by faith. As with Elisha, you need your eyes opened to know there those who are for you are more than those against you.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online

Last week I raised the controversial question, “Did King David have demons?” Without making definitive claims, I suggested the possibility that the unlikely affair of David and Bathsheba belies an explanation beyond lust and David’s kingly prerogatives. I also pointed out that David’s soul-connection to King Saul, whom we know had demons, might have transferred spiritual oppression to David. Please read part #1 of this series in its entirety to get the full context of what I’ve already postulated; to do so, click here.

Let’s also consider the strong soul-tie that David had with Jonathan, Saul’s son. First Samuel 18:1 declares that “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” Two verses later we read in First Samuel 18:3, “Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.” Jonathan even gave his royal robe to David, along with his sword and other articles of clothing. How much more powerful could a soul-bond be? As the son of Saul, Jonathan was afflicted by the same curses that came upon his father. The proof of this is his death in battle, citied in First Chronicles 10:2. And if Jonathan had his father’s curses, why wouldn’t he also have had his father’s demons? And through the soul-connection between Jonathan and David, why wouldn’t those demons have, to some extent, passed on to David?

As I stated in part 1 of this series, the breaking of curses, along with exorcism and deliverance, were unknown at the time of King David. Plus, the fullness of authority over curses and demons had not yet been given through Christ. Saul’s demons most certainly passed to his sons, Jonathan being one of them; and by the soul-covenant between Jonathan and David these same demons could have passed from Jonathan to David. This helps us to better understand how such a godly man as David could committed adultery and then murder to cover up his evil.

None of this excuses David’s failure of personal moral discipline and his willful scheming to kill Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite. As I’ve stated many times, demons can’t make us do anything. They can lure and tempt, but no human responds robotically to demonic commands. But demons can orchestrate situations that make it difficult to remain true to the Lord. Why was David up at night walking around on the palace roof (2 Samuel 11:2)? Had evil spirits disturbed his sleep at the exact moment Bathsheba was bathing? Was the timing less coincidental and more of an intricately crafted plan of Satan to destroy the Seed which could eventually crush the serpent’s head?

The lessons here are many. First, we must guard our hearts “with all diligence” (Proverbs 4:23). Second, we must be wary of soul-bonds with those whose alignment with evil can rub off on us. “Evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Corinthians 15:33), and melding our souls with those whose curses haven’t been broken may mean spiritual disaster for them and us.

An encouraging word: BE CONSISTENT

The past few weeks millions of Americans in the Northeast have suffered through horrendous storms of snow and ice. Though spring is almost up on us, it has been anything but spring-like. Such extremes of climate conditions are to be expected now and then. Not so the extremes of behavior among Christians who believe the Bible. The Living Bible says this in 2 Timothy 4:2 – Preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Our declaration of God’s truths can’t be like the weather, hot one day and cold the next. We must be consistent with proclaiming God’s Word. We must also be consistent with living the Word and make certain we are always in the season of godliness.

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online

What I’m about to say has so much potential for controversy that I offer an advance disclaimer. I’m not issuing Holy Writ. I’m not advocating a new doctrine. I’m not even saying that what I explore below is 100% true. I am suggesting a possible answer to a centuries-old theological conundrum: How could King David, a man of immense power and wealth with eight wives and 10 concubines (all the sex he could ever want, 2 Sam 3:2-5), risk his kingdom for one woman, Bathsheba, no matter how attractive she was? And how could he commit murder (the killing of Bathsheba’s husband, 2 Sam 12:9) to cover up the crime? It’s too easy to say that absolute power absolutely corrupts. This was, after all, a man “after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22).

Did David have demons? If so, it explains a lot. As an exorcist with experience spanning 40 years and 40,000 documented cases of possession, I feel qualified to offer an answer. Perhaps more than anyone alive, I’ve seen how demons operate at the subtlest levels. I’ve ministered exorcism and deliverance to hundreds of Christian leaders, pastors, priests, nuns, deacons, worship leaders, some of them household names. They all had demons that manifested verbally, some violently. There could be no mistaking that they were saved and possessed of demons. Yet they carried on their ministries while hiding dark secrets that tormented them incessantly.

How could such demons hide? I’ll leave it to our online International School of Exorcism and our Advanced Academy of Deliverance to provide the theological details of how this happens. More to the point, consider David. First, if he had demons, there was no easy way out of his spiritual quandary. Before Jesus came, it is scripturally clear that possession and some form of exorcism existed. How else could the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14) have found a place for their exorcist skills? But until Christ offered his disciples, and us, a clear commission of spiritual authority over demons in His name, exorcism was ritualistic, formulaic, and mostly unsuccessful. So, there was no way for David to be delivered. No effective procedure existed, and there’s no biblical evidence he sought such a solution.

Second, we know that King Saul had demons (1 Sam. 16:14), and David was present when these demons manifested (1 Sam. 16:23). King Saul tried to kill David (1 Sam. 18:10-11). Unquestionably, Saul and David were in a soul-connected relationship at that point, Saul as king in authority over David, and David as servant bonded to Saul on a soul-level through music. Plus, a spirit of Death and Murder was upon Saul and, through this soul-connection, the demons might have attached in some way to David. I have encountered many instances in which murder was attempted on an individual and the spirit of Murder consequently adhered to that potential victim. Like many great Christian leaders I’ve ministered to, David’s demons could have hidden, awaiting a chance to push their host over the edge. Was Bathsheba an indication of this?

NEXT WEEK, PART #2

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While politicians debate whether guns belong in the hands of teachers, a medicine woman, aka witchdoctor, has handed the Parkland, Florida school shooting survivors a talisman, a dream catcher, to welcome demons to their school. An article in “The Wall Street Journal” about this inane action was entitled, “A Talisman of Solidarity Given to Attack Survivors.” (I’ll save you the time to look up the word talisman: “an object supposed to possess occult powers and worn as an amulet or charm.”) A dream catcher is a Native-American hoop, usually made of willow (this one is), fashioned with spiritually sacred items such as feathers and beads. Its purpose is to ward off evil spirits and welcome good ones. It’s seen as a web to catch snakes and was often hung over the cradle of an infant.

This one, fashioned by female witchdoctor (known as a medicine woman) Debra Gutowski, has made the rounds of schools which have had shootings since it was first fashioned nearly 20 years ago to supposedly heal the wounds of Colorado’s Columbine High School massacre. In this case the catcher is a poster, which is easier to transport. Gutowski said she made it because of its “healing” properties and “protective powers.” This obviously occult emblem has been welcomed wherever it has been sent and will likely be embraced by the students and faculty of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. But imagine the outcry from liberals and atheists if an enshrined Bible, or plaque with a scripture, were being toted around from school to school in the aftermath of a shooting?

A dream catcher can’t catch bad dreams or evil spirits. In fact, as an amulet of witchcraft, it attracts them. I’m sure that Gutowski means well, and so do those who cart around this object of evil. They have no understanding of spiritual warfare and certainly no comprehension regarding the supernatural world of demons. But there must be a Christian somewhere who will stand up and declare that we need the Bible, prayer, and the Ten Commandments back in school to stop the killing, not a hoop of superstition and demonism.

An encouraging word: GOD HASN’T FORGOTTEN

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? David’s lament of Psalm 13:1 goes on in verse two: How long will my enemy triumph over me? How human. How much like you and me. We’ve all had times we felt abandoned by God and wondered why our adversaries were allowed to step up their attacks on us. To each who has felt abandoned or forsaken, welcome to the human family. It’s part of living and growing in life. It’s as old as King David. And the answer to this painful query is still the same: I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18).  You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online